Methane Filtration and Metabolic Cooperation of Microbial Communities in Cold Seep Water Columns from South China Sea

The distribution and variability of microbes in cold seep water columns play a crucial role in methane sequestration and biogeochemical cycling within local ecosystems. However, we still have a poor understanding of the structures and ecological functions of these microbial communities, especially at the bottom water interface (BWI). To address this, our study collected large-volume water samples and conducted metagenomic analyses to investigate microbial biodiversity, metabolic potential, and interactions across vertically stratified water layers at the F-site cold seep, which is primarily influenced by methane seepage. Using 377 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes, we constructed genome-scale metabolic models, which unveiled significant metabolic interactions among microbes, particularly at the BWI. This facilitated the coupling of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Here are the genome contigs of all the 377 MAGs and related dataset.